by Alex Thurston Should Sudan’s protesters topple President Omar al Bashir, I believe the media would get excited, but until they do, the Sudanese will remain, for the media, “marginal Arabs” or, as el Dahshan argues, Arab “villains.”

Church and the Russian University. Fundamentalism as a result of secularization, not an expression of tradition. "Shifting Politics in the World's Newest Nation." "How Ethiopia's Adoption Industry Dupes Families and Bullies Activists." Thanks to a lingering hatred for Communism... The most significant Chinese political event of 2011. Getting arms around the cult of Kim Jong...

By Alex Thurston
The secession of South Sudan in July 2011 posed an existential question for (North) Sudan: what will be the political and cultural basis of the nation, which is in some ways a new country itself?
In December 2010, shortly before the referendum on Southern secession, President Omar al Bashir gave his answer:
“We’ll change...

Ashley Makar writes at Tablet about Sudanese refugees in Israel. A clip:

The Knesset’s information branch reports that there are over 24,000 “infiltrators” and asylum seekers in Israel: almost 19,000 Sudanese and Eritreans, the rest from Central Africa. Up to 7,000 of these are in Eilat, where Mayor Yitzhak Halevi is on a “Save...

Abby Ohlheiser: In the collective gasp that followed the shooting in Tucson on Saturday, the story of the ongoing voting on a referendum for southern independence in Sudan was all but lost. We’re still catching up at The Revealer secret headquarters ourselves. Consensus in the coverage seems to be that the southern third...

30 June 2004 Describing the intentions behind his visit to Sudanese officials, Colin Powell told reporters: “I hope to give them a very direct message about how the United States and the international community see the horrific situation that exists in Darfur.” But there was little description of that perspective in Christopher Marquis’s coverage of the story...